Athletic protective equipment is commonplace in many sports. Athletic protective equipment may be unique to a particular sport, such as a mountaineer's Tibloc Ascender or ice pick, while other equipment is common across many athletic disciplines, for example, helmets, knee braces, and athletic cups.
Prior art athletic cups are familiar to the art of athletic equipment, designed to protect a male's genitalia, including the penis and testes. Such devices are widely used and are especially commonplace in contact sports having a heightened likelihood of sustaining a damaging impact to a male athlete's genitals. Such sports include for example, American football, rugby, soccer (e.g. International football), boxing, martial arts, and many others.
Prior art athletic cups attempt to protect the male genitalia by covering the penis and scrotum with a rigid convex shaped “cup” structure allowing free movement of the penis and scrotum while offering them protection in the event of an impact. Upon impact to a person wearing a prior art athletic cup, the rigid convex shaped structure resists collapse, thus protecting the penis and scrotum from impact, and directs the force of the impact to the portions of the cup in contact with the athlete's body. More particularly, the force of the impact is intended to be spared by the penis and scrotum as the outermost point of the convex shaped rigid structure remains spatially separated from the penis and scrotum. The force is instead felt by the athlete along the surrounding edge of the athletic cup. To distribute the force evenly, this surrounding edge typically is in contact with an athlete's body in an arc shape above the penis curving down along each side of the penis and scrotum, continuing along the upper inner thighs, and then under the pelvic bone posterior to the scrotum and anterior to the anus.
A wearer of a prior art athletic cup therefore, upon impact to the athletic cup will experience the full force of the impact distributed away from the penis and scrotum and onto the areas of the body in contact with a surrounding edge of the prior art athletic cup including above and next to the penis, and behind the scrotum.
An improved athletic cup as disclosed herein may aid in the prevention of injuries associated with impact to the male groin area inadequately protected by prior art devices.